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D.A.D.

30 Years Tour 2014 – Danish tour

Grå Hallen

Copenhagen, Denmark
8/3 – 2014

Reviewed and live pictures by: Anders Sandvall

The Danish rockers in D.A.D are celebrating 30 years as a band this year and the band is out on a celebration tour across Denmark. During all these years have the band only gone through one member change and that was when drummer Peter Jensen left the band in 1999. He was replaced by the extremely talented Laust Sonne but besides that has the bands line up stayed intact for 30 years. The bands latest studio album came 2011 called DIC.NII.LAN.DAFT.ERD.ARK and in January 2014 came the compilation album DISN30LAND AF30R D30K. The bands debut album was released back in 1986 and is titled CALL OF THE WILD. The band kicked off the tour in Denmark and later this year is the band heading out in Scandinavia and Europe to do festival shows amongst others. The Danish leg of the tour ended with the show at Grå Hallen in Copenhagen. The venue is situated in Christiania which is known for being a city in the city founded by hippies and where pushers sell lighter drugs openly. More info about Christiania can bee found here www.christiania.org.

Grå Hallen is the bigger venue of two in Christiania and it inhabits 1040 visitors. The club was sold out since the tour was announced. It was a bit hard to find Grå Hallen because there wasn’t a single sign inside Christiania, it’s hard to describe what it looks like there, it has to be experienced. The doors was scheduled to open at 9 and the band was going on stage at 10 and there were no support act. A line outside started to form around 8 and the line grew as the time went by. There were no problems getting in and I could see the stage at the other side of the club. The stage was pretty big and high up and behind the drums hung a backdrop portraying the original logo of the band with the cow skull. On the skull was lines carved marking 30 years of the band.

Parts of the PA system was put on the stage and parts hung in the air so it was a great deal of space for the band to use on stage. The venue was jammed with people and shortly before 10 was I let into the photopit and it was time for the show to begin.

D.A.D

The club turned pitch black and the crowd began to cheer and scream. The members came out, faced the drums and kicked off the night with the instrumental “Rin Tin Tin” as an intro. The three frontmen stood with their back towards the crowd while playing and faced the crowd when they kicked off one of their mega hits in “Riskin It All”. Of course sang all of the fans along in almost every song this night and “Riskin It All” marked the beginning of the sing along. Jesper took of his guitar and asked if Christiania was psyched to see the show tonight. “Ride My Train” followed.

The band consists of:

Jesper Binzer – lead vocals, guitar

Jacob Binzer – guitar

Stig Pedersen – bass

Laust Sonne – drums

A guitar solo in the middle by Jacob extended the song and Jesper wanted to hear everyone one in the hall shout “Come on Laust we know you got it” several times before it was time to kick off another amazing song in “Overmuch”. Pedersen has got numerous of custom made bass guitars in different shades and forms and he began the show with playing the see-through one. Jesper thanked the crowd so much and said the fans was wild. Pedersen took over the mic and said it was his turn to sing. He usually sing “Riding With Sue” but he surprised us and kicked off “Jackie O”. It was a really nice surprise to hear Pedersen sing that song for once. Both Jesper and Pedersen climbed the amps to get closer to the crowd and the fans lifted their hands to salute their heroes. Then followed “Cloudy Hours” taken from the 1997 album SIMPATICO which was followed immediately by “Ninteenhundredandyesterday”.

Jesper spoke in Danish in between the songs so it was a bit hard sometimes to hear what he was saying. Jesper said that it was no secret that the band had been touring for a long time and for many years and now was it time for Jacob to show the audience that he still got it said Jesper and looked at his brother when he kicked off “Call Of the Wild”. The fans exploded when they heard the intro and the sing a long became even louder than before. The crowd was so ecstatic they even began to crowdsurf during the song. The song transformed at the end to “Jonnie” with Pedersen on vocals again. Once again it was really nice to hear Pedersen sing, I think he’s a great singer and thinks he should sing more both live as well as on album. It was really nice to hear him sing something other than “Riding With Sue”. “Trucker” and the more current “Monster Philosophy” which was made as a mash-up. It sounded excellent! When Jesper sang Yippie-ah-yeah which is a few lines of the chorus, the rest of the band sang ‘You’ve got a monster philosophy’. It was a perfect mash-up. Binzer said he wanted everyone in the hall to song the chorus to “Trucker” which everyone did. Then was it time for all the women to sing chorus and the men sang the chorus to “Monster Philosophy”. At the end sang everyone their part together and it was a fun way to invite the crowd to take part of the show. Jacob contributed with another long solo in “Lawrence Of Suburbia” before it was time to play “Money Always Takes The Place Of Life” which started out in a country version.

I couldn’t but be amazed how tight and solid the band is. They sure are skilled musicians that knows exactly what to do on stage and how to get a crowd going. The many years of touring have made the band one of the best live acts around. I have seen the band many many times since the beginning and in many places and countries and have to say that no one takes D.A.D on a live stage at home in Copenhagen, Denmark. Something extraordinary happens with the guys when they play in Denmark. “Empty Heads” and “Little Addict” followed which was made extra long with solo by Jacob. Jesper shouted Hey Hey Hey and Pedersen changed his bass guitar to the rocketbass before it was time to play, in my opinion, the weakest song in the set list “Reconstrucdead”. The song is taken from the 1995 year album HELPYOURSELFISH which is my least favorite one with the band. While the band played was the stage filled with smoke and Jesper wanted the crowd to sing a long with him. Jesper continued with saying that it has taken Laust 15 years to play metal but now it’s time and the song turned into a thrash metal song with Sonne banging fretless on the drums. Jesper wanted the fans to give a hand for and say hello to Sonne who kicked off “Everything Glows”. Again there was some crowd surfing and there was no doubt that this song was one of the particular favourites amongst the fans. Pedersen changed to his Chevrolet-bass and the final song for the ordinary set “I Want What She’s Got” followed. Pedersen always use to be dressed up as something when they play live but not this time. Sonne did a shorter drum solo and Jesper said he wanted everyone should scream Come on Laust we know you got it, repeatedly. While Sonne did his solo both Jesper and Pederson faced him with their backs against the crowd. Then Jesper jumped down on the stage wanting the fans to say, ‘Come on Laust we love you!’. Since it was International Womens Day Jesper wanted all of the women in the crowd to shout, ‘Come on Laust! We know you got it!’, which they did. That all made the song really long to say the least. That ended the show and Jesper thanked the fans and said that they had been fantastic.

90 minutes flew by but that was not all the band had in store for the fans. They shortly returned on stage to kick off “Counting The Cattle” done in a hip-hop beat. It was so hot that Jesper only had a t-shirt on and the entire band smiled and seemed to be having a great time on stage. At first didn’t the fans hear what song they played but when they heard the lyrics they clapped their hands and screamed of joy. The fans sang the chorus on their own and it was a simply brilliant version of the song. “Ill Will” followed and it was turned to a metal song at the end. Straight after that followed “Simpatico” and once again let Jesper the fans sing the chorus. The amazing “Evil Twin” followed and that song made the fans go even more crazy. That song ended the first rounds of encores and the band once again went off stage. Jesper said thanks so much Christiania you have been amazing tonight goodnight and the band went of stage.

But the fans wanted to hear even more from their idols and D.A.D made their second entrance on the stage for the night. The classical “I Won’t Cut My Hair” came as first in line and it was made extra long by a solo from Jacob. Jesper said it had been an amazing night and that the band was so thankful for all the support they got through the years from their fans. The band left the stage but soon came Pedersen out again because it was one song that was missing, a song they can’t leave without having sung and it was of course their monumental hit “It’s After Dark”. As soon as Pedersen opened his mouth and started to sing took the fans over. The fans sung the entire song together with Pedersen and almost overpowered him. That song marked the absolute end of the show and the band once again thanked the devoted fans.

Over 2 hours of excellent music was played this evening and I didn’t want the show to end. D.A.D sure proved why they are one of the most popular bands from Denmark and why they have lasted for 30 years. This was an amazing show and I’m really glad I could attend it. It was an amazing set list and the mash-up between “Trucker/Monster Philosophy” was brilliantly executed. It didn’t matter at all that the band left out a few classical songs, the set list was jammed with other gems. The set list was so great that I didn’t mind the extended versions of few of the songs. Another highlight was the odd version of “Counting The Cattle”. I’d never thought I was going to hear it in a heavy hip-hop beat. Besides the smoke there were no special effects like pyro or moving drums or stuff like that. It was only the band and their music and that was enough. It was amazing to be able to see them in Denmark and the show was the best one I’ve seen in a long while. If you have a chance to see the bands anniversary tour then don’t miss it! I congratulate the band for 30 years in the business.

Set list

Rin Tin Tin (intro)

Riskin It All

Ride My Train

Overmuch

Jackie O

Cloudy Hours

Ninteenhundredandyesterday

Call Of the Wild/Jonnie medley

Monster Philosophy/Trucker mash-up

Lawrence Of Suburbia

Money Always Takes The Place of Life

Empty Heads

Little Addict

Reconstrucdead

Everything Glows

I Want What She’s Got

Encores I

Counting The Cattle

Ill Will Simpatico

Evil Twin

Encore II

I Won’t Cut My Hair

Encore III

It’s After Dark

Thanks to Pyg Grunderup at Beatbox Booking And Concerts, Denmark for help with press/photo pass. And thanks for all the help during all the years.

Thanks to Dorthe at Beatbox Booking And Concerts, Denmark for help with press/photo pass.